With Christmas just around the corner, it’s been fun brainstorming and prepping some hands on holiday activities and centers like these Gingerbread Addition Mats. Use them with real gumdrops (yum!) or even use play dough, unifix cubes, or fun Christmas erasers as counters. No matter how you play, these are a great activity for building addition skills within 10.
*Pair with our Gingerbread Centers & Activities for Pre-K/Kindergarten
Gingerbread Addition Mats
These gingerbread addition mats are the perfect addition to my math centers and preparation for this activity is so simple! The kids will love it!
To get these gingerbread mats ready, I printed them out on cardstock and laminated them. This way I can use them with a dry erase marker over and over again.
How to Play
I decided to play with real gumdrops. I recommend giving each kid their own cup of gumdrops to play with. They can play and then eat them!
Or, you can have a designated bowl of gumdrops NOT for eating. I find that most kids will respect that rule because they don’t want to lose the privilege of playing the game.
I used two separate colors of gumdrops to build equations. This gives a good visual for kids that two separate sets are being combined to form a new total.
First we had 2+3. We put out 2 red gumdrops and 3 green gumdrops.
How many gumdrops in all? We have 5! So we wrote 5 in the box with our dry erase marker.
We then cleared off our card and grabbed another to solve!
RELATED RESOURCE: Clothespin Clip Cards – December
Grab Your Copy
Ready to play with the gingerbread addition mats? Grab your own copy by clicking the large, yellow button at the very end of this post.
More Gingerbread Fun
Be sure to check out these 20 awesome gingerbread activities for kids from some of my favorite kid bloggers too!
Gingerbread Math – Making Five // Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station
Gingerbread Pattern Cards // The STEM Laboratory
Science Christmas Ornaments: Long Lasting Gingerbread Ornaments // Schooling a Monkey
Initial Sound Gingerbread Puzzles // A Dab of Glue Will Do
Decorate a Gingerbread Man Art Activity // Mom Inspired Life
Gingerbread Addition Mats // The Kindergarten Connection
Gingerbread Coverall Games // Recipe for Teaching
Gingerbread Man Counting Cards // Sara J Creations
Gingerbread Pre-Writing Strips // The Kindergarten Connection
Gingerbread Clip Cards // Fun With Mama
Gingerbread 2D Shape Match and Count // Liz’s Early Learning Spot
Gingerbread Play Dough// Play and Learn Everyday
Gingerbread House Building STEM // Science Kiddo
Gingerbread Ten Frame Counting Mats // Modern Preschool
Gingerbread Man Busy Box // Teach Me Mommy
Gingerbread Man Sight Word Game // Playdough to Plato
Gingerbread Man Stamping // Simple Play Ideas
Gingerbread Number Line Addition to 12 // Fairy Poppins
Gingerbread Man Addition Cork Board Game // Adventures of Adam
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